Irish Rail must reduce fares and increase service with 41 new railcars – McGahon

Irish Rail should reduce their passenger fares and increase services with 41 new railcars coming into service, a Fine Gael Senator has said.

Senator John McGahon, a regular passenger on Iarnród Éireann services, said in 2019, the Fine Gael led Government ordered 41 new railcars. The new railcars are due to enter service on the Commuter and Intercity network throughout December and January and brings Irish Rail’s fleet to 275 railcars.

The 41 single new carriages will make existing trains longer (5 car will become 6 car).

“This is a great development, but we now need to see the benefit passed onto hard pressed passengers,” Senator McGahon said.

“With increased capacity, passengers should either see fares reduced or an increase in services – preferably both – but Irish Rail need to examine all options,” the Louth based commuter said.

“This represents an investment of €150m by the Government in commuters and making sure they get to their location on time and in comfort.

“I commuted to Dublin from Dundalk for over ten years and I still get the train regularly. One of the common complaints made by commuters over those ten years, is that they pay full price for a ticket, only to be standing for the vast majority of their journey.

“This increased capacity will provide so much more space that it will really reduce the instances of this happening.

“The increased capacity should also result in an increase in a number of services. On average, there are eight intercity train journeys a day between Dundalk and Dublin, the increased capacity will now allow Irish rail to increase that number of services and it is something I will be writing to the CEO about to ensure it is considered and happens.

“More and more people are travelling by rail than ever before, it is so important that we provide a consistent and efficient train service that has value for money for commuters in this country.

“Nobody wants to be stuck in traffic every single day, so the alternative is to invest heavily in public transport and provide people with multiple model transport options,” Senator McGahon concluded.